First lady Michelle Obama made a visit to Maine to show her support for U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud's candidacy for governor.

Michaud and Obama appeared together on stage at the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine at Orono on Friday afternoon. People in the audience of 1,500 people held signs saying "I Like Mike."

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"He is a decent man. He is an honest man. He is a hard-working man," Obama said.

The Obama name will not appear on ballots in November, but the first lady made her visit to remind Democrats, especially women and young voters, that elections could be decided by thin margins.

"Between now and Nov. 4, we need you knocking on doors and making calls and getting everyone you know out to vote for Mike, because it will be that ground game that makes the difference," she said.

Michaud told the crowd that he is the only candidate in the race who is able to beat Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

"The difference between me and Gov. LePage could not be clearer. Not only is it because of our values, but also because of our temperament as well," Michaud said.

Independent candidate Eliot Cutler's campaign manager sent a statement out on Friday:

"It's another celebrity endorsement to prop up a weak candidate. No surprise that Eliot is talking with real people, facing real challenges, while Michael Michaud is more concerned about politics and glossing over a record where he has 'evolved' on all sorts of fundamental issues," Ted O'Meara said.

The statement touched on how Michaud's stance on reproductive rights issues has changed during his legislative career.

Planned Parenthood has endorsed Michaud, and the organization's president, Cecile Richards, also attended the rally.

"There is a very clear contrast in this race for governor and Mike has spent his entire life working on behalf of folks in Maine in a bipartisan fashion and making sure that women in the state and families in the state have access to the health care that they need, and we deserve a governor who's not going to put his own personal agenda ahead of the rights of women to access health care," Richards said.

The first lady's trip to Orono was part of a campaign swing through New England. She stopped in Massachusetts before flying up to Maine.

The first lady was not the first national political figure to lend her star power to Maine's gubernatorial race.

Last month, former President Bill Clinton stumped for Michaud in Portland.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, has visited Maine twice to help LePage's re-election bid.